# Quick question about halibut, the fish. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460 "2002-05-23T10:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Iyamity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/96bed5/32.png) [@Iyamity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iyamity)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/1 "2002-05-23T10:24:33Z")
I was just told yesterday by someone that halibut have both their eyes on the same side of the head. Does anyone know if this is so? I did a search for halibut photographs on Google and got just one site, a fishing lodge in Alaska, but the photos weren’t closeups. I can’t believe that any animal would evolve this way, it would make them extremely vulnerable to a predator. Another question, if the answer is yes, are the eyes always on the same side of their head? ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/2 "2002-05-23T10:28:48Z")
dunno about halibut, but i’ve seen flounder with both eyes on the same side of the head. they lay flat against the bottom of whatever body of water they’re in, with both eyes pointing up. jb ---
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/3 "2002-05-23T10:41:22Z")
Halibut are a species of flounder and spending most of their time on their side it is an advantage to have their eyes placed that way. The eyes begin on both sides in the larva stage but migrate to what becomes the top side as they grow. The same side doesn’t always develop into the top side though the proportion of left and right handers varies by species. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/4 "2002-05-23T11:48:44Z")
The left handed ones are, of course, evil. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/5 "2002-05-23T12:32:08Z")
type in google, “halibut jpeg” and then search under images tab. You’ll see many pics of the halibut with a white side and no eyes (lays flat on bottom) and a darker side with 2 eyes. The flounder / fluke are like the hailbut and we catch them all summer long in the Atlantic. They have both eyes on one side…the side that faces up when lying flat on the bottom. Their camaflouge abilities and abiltiy to see predators is excellent like this. ---
**Author:** ![Balor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Balor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/6 "2002-05-23T17:08:14Z")
The eye thing is genuine, and is an evolutionary adaptation by many flat fish who live and hunt on the sea bottom. They keep one side upwards all the time, and that side is usually camouflaged to help them to hide from prey or predators. I assume the binocular vision must have had an evolutionary benefit. It is weird to see the eye transit from one side to the other as the fish grows. > [@](#): > > Quick question about halibut, the fish. Is there a halibut, not the fish? ---
**Author:** ![CzechHistory411](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@CzechHistory411](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CzechHistory411)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/7 "2002-05-23T17:32:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Balor \* > \*\*Is there a halibut, not the fish? \*\* [Halibut Mountain](http://fat-albert.alexandria.ucsb.edu:8827/gaz_report?con_num=6251768), Vermont Obviously so named because of the schools of halibut (the fish) that migrate to the summit each year to spawn. – CH ---
**Author:** ![Balor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Balor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/8 "2002-05-23T17:42:18Z")
Or the result of over-fishing? ---
**Author:** ![Iyamity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/96bed5/32.png) [@Iyamity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iyamity)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/9 "2002-05-23T23:32:24Z")
Well, shut my mouth and call me mumbles. So, these fish just lay on the bottom all the time, and gaze toward the sky? They don’t swim around at all? No wonder the ones I saw in my search looked so flabby. Thanks for all your responses. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/10 "2002-05-24T00:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Halibut are a species of flounder and spending most of their time on their side it is an advantage to have their eyes placed that way. I always figured the eyes were placed that way just for the halibut. [sub]C’mon, you knew _somebody_ was going to bust out that old chestnut 😛 [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/11 "2002-05-24T01:04:17Z")
I would like a license for my pet fish, Eric. He’s an 'alibut. Picked him out of thousands, I did. He wasn’t like the others, they were all too flat… ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-halibut-the-fish/110460/12 "2002-05-24T03:40:32Z")
Halibut are known to be very meaty and muscular fish actually. I worked with broodstock halibut at the Pacific Biological Station in BC. They look and feel like they’ve got steel cables running down their sides, and are also a very sought after fish for the table. The big ones (we only had ~45 pounders) can actually be very dangerous when they are hauled up onto a boat deck. They’ll slap their tails/bodies on the deck or whatever’s there hard enough to break things up pretty thouroghly and whip the line and hooks they’re on around. Hence the reason that the big ones are often shot in the head before they come on deck. They can get to be the size of a sheet of plywood and weigh more than the fishermen :eek:. Halibut are also pretty nasty predators, and I’ve talked to some geoduck collectors who’ve felt a little nervous watching a 200lb halibut swimming behind them over the sand.